Military administration to be set up in Odesa, Zelenskyy says

Military administration to be established in Odesa. Photo: Odesa City Council

A military administration will be set up in Odesa, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the decision will be made in the near future.

The president said this in his evening address and stressed that the city needs enhanced protection and more support.

«Odesa deserves more protection and more support. This can be done in the format of a military administration. Too many security issues in Odesa have been left unanswered for too long. All effective decisions will be made. I will appoint the head of the military administration in the near future,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

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According to media reports, citing sources in the President's Office, the head of the Dnipro Military Administration, Serhii Lysak, is likely to become the head of the Odesa City Military Administration.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that the mayor of Odesa, Hennadii Trukhanov, had been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. Copies of his Russian passport are in the possession of the special service.

It is worth noting that just the day before, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that the President's Office was preparing an initiative to deprive him of Ukrainian citizenship and called these intentions part of «another provocation».

In less than a day, 25,000 people signed a petition demanding that Hennadii Trukhanov be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. The initiative gained the required number of votes after the natural disaster of 30 September, when ten people died. In response, Hennadii Trukhanov said that he was ready to undergo any test, including a polygraph, to prove that he did not hold a Russian passport.

Later, Hennadii Trukhanov stated that he was supported by the majority of citizens and had no plans to leave Ukraine.

In addition, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to an electronic petition to establish a military administration in Odesa.

Ukrainian journalists have repeatedly published investigations into Trukhanov's Russian citizenship. They wrote about it in «Slidstvo. Info» and Hromadske. In 2016, the Security Service of Ukraine began checking the Odesa mayor's ties to Russia, but later the agency said it was unable to find out whether he really had a Russian passport.